10 Movies Based on Scientific Falsehoods

Climate change scaremongering is a popular pastime these days. Some of the terrifying scenarios are believable; others, like those in "The Day After Tomorrow," are downright goofy.

This movie's plot hinges on global warming that causes abrupt changes in weather patterns. Enormous tornadoes whip cities. Gigantic hail crushes others. Huge hurricanes and tsunamis and violent temperature swings cause widespread misery. And all of it happens in the span of a few days.

Although our planet's weather may be changing due to global warming, you won't have to worry about spontaneous sub-zero blizzards occurring during summer anytime soon. Our planet's climate is actually pretty stable, and as such, extreme weather events happen in a creeping fashion, not in one burst of frenetic atmospheric activity.

What's more, the movie takes its premise to extremes. In order to see waves hundreds of feet high in New York City, the winds would have to blow more than 1,000 miles per hour. The hurricane-like thunderstorms that happen are only possible over the ocean ... not over land, as in the script.

There are a lot of other flaws in the meteorology and physics in this flick. But suffice it to say, "The Day After Tomorrow" isn't going to happen tomorrow, or any other day, for that matter.